Into the Void
by Emma Stein
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GENRE: Historical Fiction
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BLURB:
The
country of Anglina is teeming with social upheaval, and its officials have
found an unlikely national hero in a philosopher and social activist named Horace.
The Anglinian government has appointed the effeminate, irreverent, and stubborn
scholar to undertake a journey around the world to learn the secret of other
countries’ success. Unfortunately for Horace, most of the societies he visits
turn out to be drastically different from what he expected, and he repeatedly
sends scathing but witty reports about his travels and the people he
encounters. At the end of his journey, Horace encounters a series of communes
whose inhabitants welcome him into their ranks and open his eyes to more a
liberal and egalitarian way of life.
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EXCERPT:
Dear Addie,
The tradesmen who have been kind enough to take me on as a
bit of useless cargo on their voyage to Boasille are docking at their first
port of call tomorrow. From what I have heard, there are some rather willing
prostitutes in the city of LaHague who will do anything for a bottle of our
good Anglinian gin. That would explain the contents of our cargo hold to some
extent, I suppose. “Give’m a swig and they’ll return the favour fives times
over...or under or sideways!” is how my cultivated shipmates put it.
If they offered postal services as well, I would have no
qualms pocketing a little bottle of gin from the hold and slipping it into a
painted woman’s bag, but I believe the poor dears are much better at
transmitting syphilis than messages. But if LaHague is as large as my
illustrious companions have suggested, I assume there will be a postal service
somewhere along the docks.
I am a bit reluctant to stray too far on my own, you see. I
imagine the great unwashed on this ship have enjoyed pulling my leg this whole
time, telling me horror stories about little “flippity-floppity fops” like
myself who vanished as soon as they set foot outside the dock and shipyard
area. “First their fineries evaporated into the air, then the powder in their
hair. They looked like men then in the face, then disappeared without a trace…”
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AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Always lagging behind current technological developments,
Emma wrote all of her fledgling books and essays in a crabbed script until the
demands of university life convinced her that it might be worthwhile to invest
in a word processing program. That same university life caused a long hiatus in
her creative writing activity but provided much of the kindling for her current
literary endeavors. Until March of 2014, when she started working as a
translator for a large software company, most of her publications were
therefore academic in nature.
Emma has lived abroad since 2008, and her experiences in
France, Canada, Germany, and Russia influence her work considerably. This
influence is particularly powerful in Into the Void, which parodies different
facets and institutions of these countries and explores the difficulty of
retaining one’s own identity while trying to assimilate into another culture.
Theories from Cultural Studies and Sociology form another cornerstone of Emma’s
work, and she enlivens what many people would consider dry texts with
interpretations that are full of wit and unexpected spins on the order of
things. Her penchant for pinpointing the foibles and follies of both herself
and her fellows is a fine source for her satires, be they written or
illustrated.
Emma was born near Chicago in 1986 and has lived in Germany
since 2011. She recently opened a translation company in Kiel, where she
continues to surprise the natives with the historically inspired clothing that
she designs and wears.
AUTHOR
WEBSITE(S)(list URLS):
Twitter:
@EmmaSteinBooks
Buy
links:
Into the
Void will be $0.99 during the tour.
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